Sheet material such as paper and nonwoven products are frequently provided to the consumer in the form of roll or piles encased in a suitable dispenser. Typically, roll dispensers such as centre-fed roll dispensers are permanently affixed to a wall. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in portable dispensers that are releasably affixed to the wall by means of a suitable holding device.
It is considered desirable by consumers to make such a dispenser portable so that it can be wall mounted if desired and can also be moved around a usage site if desired. WO 2008/085090 A1 discloses a portable dispenser for a centre-fed roll of sheet material. This dispenser is made of a soft, flexible, textile type material. The soft dispenser includes a handle to allow it to be carried around and used where desired. However, the tissue dispensing action requires a two-handed operation, one hand for stabilizing the dispenser, such as at the handle, and the other hand for pulling and tearing the sheet material. Otherwise, the dispenser would either tilt over or move once an attempt is made to pull and tear the sheet material.
Although the art has already explored various means for securing dispensers to a horizontal surface, these means are either not transferable to portable roll dispensers and/or have been found unsatisfactorily for technical or other reasons.
SE 519 199 C2 relates to a cylindrical cover shrink-fitted around a toilet roll and covering at least the outer end sections of the two flat end surfaces of the toilet roll. Paper is removed via an opening located in the middle of one of these end surfaces. The cylinder-shaped surface of the cover includes a fastening means, preferably velcro or adhesive fastening means for securing it to a surface on which the dispenser is to be supported. It is also disclosed that when using an adhesive fastening means it should preferably be possible to repeatedly remove the strip and re-attach it to another surface. A protective strip covers the strip prior to use.
Double-sided adhesive tapes with a sufficiently strong adhesive force tend to leave adhesive residues if they are removed from the surface to which the dispenser has been secured. This applies in particular to rough surface materials such as wooden tables. If the adhesive force is adjusted to be smaller, it is often insufficient to secure the dispenser or it quickly drops after repeated use. The adhesive polymers are easily soiled with dust, grease or other dirt which drastically reduces their adhesive effect. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide means for securing a dispenser to a surface that do not suffer from repeated use or whose original state can be easily restored.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,530,472 B2 provides a wipes dispensing system including a dispenser and a mounting element for mounting the dispenser to a mounting surface (wall). This U.S. patent teaches that a variety of attachment means is possible. The wipes dispenser may be releasably mounted to a fixed surface by mounting elements such as, for example, Velcro tapes, suction cups, magnets, screws, removable double-sided foam or other tapes, micro suction, static cling films or by means of a removable mounting bracket. Non-tacky static cling films provide rather low adhesive forces. Suction cups or micro-suction devices tend to loose their adhesion to the mounting surface with time. Further, they typically require perfectly smooth surfaces to show the necessary adhesion. A micro suction attachment for a hanky container with a plurality of nanosize recesses is also described in DE 20 2008 005 552 U1.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,378 B1 concerns a tissue container which resists unwanted movement when placed upon a flat surface due in part to a non-skid friction enhancement device that is affixed to the lower surface of the container. The tissue container may also be releasably affixed to an object or surface by way of adhesive such that the container resists movement when a tissue is pulled from the container. The adhesive is permanently provided in the form of adhesive patches which may be covered with a releasable film layer. The soiling of these adhesive patches also tends to considerably lower their adhesive effect. However, the forces generated by pulling a tissue from a tissue container are not comparable to the tilting forces acting upon a roll dispenser when the sheet material is tugged against the teeth around the dispensing opening and torn. Further, a permanent fixation of adhesive patches prevents replacement thereof if these are damaged or lose their function after very frequent use.
It is one object of the present invention to provide suitable means that allow one-handed dispending of sheet material from a portable roll dispenser.
It is one further object of the present invention to provide releasable attachment means for a portable roll dispenser that do not leave adhesive residue behind when the dispenser is removed after attachment.
It is one further object of the present invention to provide releasable attachment means for a portable roll dispenser that do function on a wide range of different surfaces.
It is one further object of the present invention to provide easy-to-use releasable attachment means for a portable roll dispenser wherein the attachment force does not substantially drop upon repeated use or at least can be easily restored.